Manor slump against Penn

A dreadful batting display by Manor plunged them back deep into trouble, only 11 points ahead of the last relegation place with three games remaining.

None of Manor’s top order batsmen showed the required application to support Armadeep Sonkar, and on this occasion the lower order were unable to lead a meaningful recovery as they have done so many times this season.

Sonkar (60), had to watch in despair as his colleagues found ways to get out to a series of full tosses and long hops, leaving Penn’s Nikul Lal with very impressive figures of 6-21 in a well below par total of 125.

Manor’s excellent bowling attack have grabbed victory from the jaws of defeat so many times this season and came within a whisker of producing what would have been the most stunning win of all. In fact, if Penn captain Daniel Bassett had not been dropped when on 5 then they may well of succeeded. Bassett went on to make 31, but apart from the one crucial missed catch Manor supported their bowlers well with an energetic performance in the field. Arfan Khan (3-34) led the way, with Aurell Kirnon, Armadeep Sonkar and Sukhjit Singh also taking wickets to set up an exciting and tense finale. Unfortunately, Manor had not given themselves enough runs to bowl at, and defeat was always likely from that point despite the fantastic effort from their bowlers.